This article is from page 20 of the 2010-03-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
DESPITE spending €1.2 million on its environmental programme, En- nis Town Council is losing the bat- tle against litter louts, it was claimed yesterday.
At yesterday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council, Clir Brian Meaney (GP) said that given the scale of 1I- legal dumping taking place around the outskirts of Ennis, it was time for the council to re-assess its litter policy.
‘The volume of rubbish dumped in Lees Road has snowballed in the last
couple of months,” said Cllr Meaney. He added, “It’s unbelievable what is being dumped there. This is a battle we are losing.”
Cllr Meaney said the council need- ed to secure some “high profile” prosecutions of people engaged in illegal dumping and should engage in “covert and non-covert” surveil- lance of litter blackspots.
Cllr Meaney said that the absence of documentation in the items being dumped showed that this was “pre- meditated” activity.
Cllr Peter Considine (FF) said that the council had lost the fight against
litter on country roads.
Town clerk Eddie Power said the council’s environmental staff were working hard to stamp out illegal olovesheyparee
He told the meeting that the coun- cil would focus on the Lees Road area during an upcoming spring oA Crea onl
Figures from the council’s 2009 report on prevention and control of litter show that a total of 130 litter fines were issued in 2009.
The report states that the council received income totaling €8,970 from litter fines while a total of 131
fines were issued in 2009.
The figures show that just 59 of these fines were paid in 2009 while two cases were referred to a solicitor. Explaining the figures, town clerk Eddie Power said that often difficul- ties arise when pursuing legal action against people for littering offences.
He said often there was difficulty in identifying litter louts while in some cases, alleged offenders may have moved away from Ennis.
Town Manager Ger Dollard said the some of the fines could be paid nO OF
Cllr Mary Howard (FG) urged
the council to consider re-locating Wheelie bins at Drumcliffe grave- yard in order to prevent dumping in the area.
She said that dumping was also prevalent along a stretch of the N85. Mayor of Ennis Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) said the bins had been removed from Drumcliffe as people had been using them to dump household rub- tOE
The litter report states that Ennis Town Council issued 114 abandoned vehicle notices under the waste management act while 24 cars were removed on behalf of the council.